Management device, network apparatus, and management method

ABSTRACT

A terminal management device manages the sharing by at the least one business entity of costs related to distributed terminal devices. In a case that a new business entity, which uses the terminal devices and provides services after the terminal devices have been distributed, the terminal management device computes and totals the differences of shared costs of each business entity, which will change in accordance with the addition thereof. Thus, by managing the changes of a plurality of business entities bearing the costs related to terminal devices, changes in the shares of the costs thereof can be adjusted easily even-in a case that business entities using the terminal devices thereof and providing services change after the terminal devices have been distributed to subscribers: Therefore, the present invention facilitates the participation of a new service business entity in the provision of services using terminal devices subsequent to the terminal devices being distributed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for a plurality of businessentities to bear the cost of a terminal device, which can make use ofservices provided by these business entities. More particularly, thepresent invention relates to a terminal management method and a terminalmanagement device in a case that a plurality of service businessentities distribute to subscribers, either gratuitously or for a smallfee, terminal devices (network terminals), which connect to a networksuch as the Internet, and the cost of these network terminals is borneby the plurality of service business entities.

2. Description of the Related Art

In line with the widespread use of the Internet in recent years, servicebusiness entities, such as Internet service providers (ISP), whichprovide Internet connection services, and application service providers(ASP), which provide a variety of services (online shopping, onlinestock trading, and so forth) over the Internet, are conductingoperations, which allow users to subscribe to these services byproviding to subscribers, either free-of-charge or for a small fee,terminal devices (network terminals, such as, for example, personalcomputers or set top boxes), which connect to the Internet, in order toincrease the number of users subscribing to these services. In thiscase, the service business entities recoup the cost of the networkterminals provided to subscribers either gratuitously or for a smallfee, via the service utilization charges paid by subscribers.

In this manner, service business entities, by increasing the number ofsubscribers by providing users with either free or inexpensive networkterminals, are attempting to increase revenues resulting from theservice utilization charges from these subscribers, and are making itpossible to continue service provision operations by recouping the costof network terminals.

However, for example, in a case that personal computers are distributedas network terminals, there have been a rash of incidents in which onlythe word processing software and such, which either has been installedin these personal computers beforehand, or is installed by a subscriberafterwards, is being used, and the services provided by the servicebusinesses are not being used.

Thus, because services are not being used in accordance with thedistributed terminals, revenues from service utilization fees fromsubscribers are decreasing, and there are also limited funds availablefor investments designed to acquire subscribers, making it impossible torecoup the cost of the network terminals, and thus impossible tocontinue service provision operations.

Therefore, there are cases in which shouldering the cost of thesenetwork terminals is too great a burden financially for a single servicebusiness. In a case such as this, the cost burden on a single servicebusiness can be reduced by a plurality of service business entitiessharing the cost of distributed network terminals. Network terminalsdistributed jointly by a plurality of service business entities can makeuse of the plurality of services provided by these service businessentities, and a subscriber will subscribe to each of the servicesprovided by the plurality of service business entities, respectively.

However, it is supposed that there will be cases in which servicescapable of being used via network terminals will change after networkterminals have been distributed to subscribers. For example, there willbe cases in which, in addition to services (for example, an Internetconnection service and an online stock trading service) by servicebusiness entities sharing the cost of initial network terminals, a newservice (an online shopping service) by another service business entity,will be added. In a case such as this, this other service businessentity is not sharing the cost of the network terminals at networkterminal distribution.

Thus, when it becomes possible to utilize a new service provided byanother service business entity subsequent to network terminaldistribution, there are times when the new service thereof is utilizedoften, and the services provided by the service business entitiessharing the cost of the network terminals are not used.

As a result, whereas revenues of service utilization fees fromsubscribers increase for this other service business entity, revenuesresulting from the service utilization fees of the service businessentities sharing the cost of network terminals decrease, making itimpossible to continue service provision operations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a methodfor managing the sharing of terminal costs that makes the continuationof service operations possible.

Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a terminalmanagement device when a plurality of service business entities aresharing the cost of network terminals, and a terminal device andterminal management method corresponding thereto.

According to the present invention, a terminal management device managesthe sharing by at the least one business entity of costs related todistributed terminal devices. For example, in a case that a new businessentity, which uses the terminal devices and provides services after theterminal devices have been distributed, the terminal management devicecomputes and totals the differences of shared costs of each businessentity, which will change in accordance with the addition thereof. Thus,by managing the changes of a plurality of business entities bearing thecosts related to terminal devices, changes in the shares of the coststhereof can be adjusted easily even in a case that business entitiesusing the terminal devices thereof S and providing services change afterthe terminal devices have been distributed to subscribers. Therefore,the present invention facilitates the participation of a new servicebusiness entity in the provision of services using terminal devicessubsequent to the terminal devices being distributed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an example of a network configuration in an aspect of theembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an example of a configuration of a support server 40;

FIG. 3 is an example of a configuration of a network terminal;

FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D are diagrams illustrating tables stored in asupport server 40;

FIG. 5 is an example of a table for storing changes in proportionalshares of network terminal costs;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of computations of the costsborne by each business entity;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of processing between a network terminal andsupport server in a first aspect of the embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is an example of an initial screen displayed on a networkterminal;

FIG. 9 is an example of a table of a history of affinity ID updates;

FIG. 10 is an example of a document;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of processing between a network terminal and asupport server in a second aspect of the embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 is an example of a service menu screen displaying an affinity IDchange menu; and

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of processing between a network terminal and asupport server in a third aspect of the embodiment of the presentinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The aspects of the embodiment of the present invention will be explainedhereinbelow. However, the technical scope of the present invention isnot limited to these aspects of the embodiment. Furthermore, in thepresent invention, a business entity is not only a company (anorganization), which provides a service, but also refers to divisionswithin the same company, which provide different services, and earnrevenues, respectively. Further, in the aspects of the embodimenthereinbelow, a terminal device is explained as a terminal device capableof connecting to the Internet (a network terminal), but the presentinvention is also applicable to a terminal device other than a networkterminal.

FIG. 1 is an example of a network configuration in an aspect of theembodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a network terminal 10 isconnected to the Internet via a server 20 of an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), which is a service business entity. Subscriber networkterminal 10 is, for example, a personal computer capable of connectingto the Internet, or a network connection device (Internet appliance(IA)) capable of connecting only to a server of a specific servicebusiness entity, and is given out, either free-of-charge or for a smallfee, to a subscriber from at the least one service business entity. Thatis, a service business entity bears at the least a portion of the costof a network terminal given out to a subscriber.

Further, a server 30 of an application service provider (ASP), which isa service business entity providing services over the Internet, isconnected to the Internet. Furthermore, a support server 40, whichperforms network terminal management tasks characteristic of the presentinvention, is connected to the Internet. The support server 40, as willbe explained in detail hereinbelow, in a case that a plurality ofservice business entities share the cost of a network terminal, managesthe proportional shares thereof, and manages the types of services thata network terminal receives.

FIG. 2 is an example of a configuration of a support server 40. Thesupport server 40 is, for example, a Web server connected to theInternet. In FIG. 2, the controller 41 of the support server 40 isconstituted from a CPU, memory, and so forth, performs file read-outcontrol, file transfer control, database search/update control, andvarious arithmetic processing, and performs the management tasks of thepresent invention. The communicating unit 42 receives data from anetwork terminal 10 and sends same to the controller 41, and transmits afile sent from the controller 41 to a network terminal 10. Further, thefollowing files are stored in a predetermined storing unit of thesupport server 40.

An HTML file 43 is a file of pages described in the HTML language. Amain program file 44 comprises a program for reading out an HTML(HyperText Markup Language) file and sending same to a communicationsdevice, a program for processing data from a network terminal, a programfor searching/updating a database, an operational program for using adatabase and creating the documents/vouchers of each service businessentity, and a CGI (common gateway interface) program. Further, adatabase 45 stores various tables, which will be explained hereinbelow.

FIG. 3 is an example of a configuration of a network terminal. A networkterminal 10 is, for example, a personal computer or a set top box. InFIG. 3, the controller 11 of the network terminal 10 is constituted froma CPU, memory, and so forth, and controls communications with a serveron a network, controls the display of a received file, and controlsvarious processing. A communicating unit 12 receives data from a supportserver 40 or some other server on a network, sends same to thecontroller 11, and sends data sent from the controller 11 to a server ona network. Further, a program file 13 stored in a predetermined storingunit of a network terminal comprises a browser program for displayinginformation from a server. Furthermore, the network terminal 10 may alsocomprise an interface unit (for example, a card slot or the like) 14 forreading a removable storage medium (a. memory card, IC card, floppydisk, CD-ROM or the like).

FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D are diagrams illustrating examples of tablesstored in a support server 40. The support server 40 manages inaccordance with the following tables a network terminal ID (MID) foridentifying a network terminal, a subscriber ID for identifying asubscriber, a VAM-ID for identifying a service business entity (or whatis also called a VAM (value adder marketer)), and an affinity ID foridentifying the combination type of at the least one service businessentity bearing the costs of network terminals. The affinity ID will beexplained below.

The network terminal table (machine table) shown in FIG. 4A stores asubscriber ID corresponding to each network terminal ID (MID), andfurthermore, the manufacturing number (serial), type (hardtype) and unitcost (not shown in the figure) of each network terminal. The subscribertable shown in FIG. 4B stores each subscriber ID, affinity ID,chargetype, and a subscriber name, which is not shown in the figure,corresponding to a subscriber ID. The affinity table shown in FIG. 4Cstores a VAM-ID corresponding to each affinity ID, and the proportionalshare of network terminal costs of a service business entitycorresponding to each VAM-ID. Further, the VAM table in FIG. 4D storesthe name of a service business entity corresponding to each VAM-ID.

Here, the affinity ID will be explained. The affinity ID, as mentionedhereinabove, is an ID for identifying the combination type of at theleast one service business entity bearing the cost of network terminals.By assigning each affinity ID to each network terminal (eachsubscriber), it is possible to identify the type of service that eachnetwork terminal (each subscriber) is receiving. For example, as shownin FIG. 4C, affinity ID=“af0” is an example in which only servicebusiness entity ISP1 bears the cost of network terminals (that is, theproportional share is 1), and as shown in FIG. 4B, the subscriber ofsubscriber ID “1234567” can receive a service business entityISP1-provided service by connecting the network terminal of assignednetwork terminal ID “3258288732” (See FIG. 4A) to the Internet.

Further, affinity ID=“af3” is an example in which service businessentities ISP1, ASP1, ASP2 and ASP3 share the cost of network terminals,and the proportional shares thereof are, for example, 0.43 for servicebusiness entity ISP1, 0.21 for both service business entity ASP1 andservice business entity ASP2, and 0.15 for service business entity ASP3.And then, as shown in FIG. 4B, when the subscriber of subscriber ID“9234567”, connects the network terminal of assigned network terminal ID“3666777888” (See FIG. 4A) to the Internet, it is possible to receiveservices provided by service business entities ISP1, ASP1, ASP2, andASP3.

Furthermore, in the case of the above-mentioned affinity ID=“af0”,initially only service business entity ISP1 bore the cost of networkterminals, and it was only possible to use a service provided by servicebusiness entity ISP1, but thereafter, in a case that it was madepossible for the network terminal corresponding to affinity ID=“af0” toutilize a service provided by service business entity ASP1, as shown inFIG. 4C, a new affinity ID=“af1” is set, and proportional shares ofnetwork, terminal costs of service business entities ISP1 and ASP1 (forexample, 0.67 for service business entity ISP1 and 0.33 for servicebusiness entity ASP1) are set.

Therefore, for service business entity ISP1, the proportional share ofnetwork terminal costs is reduced from the initial 1 to 0.67, and forservice business entity ASP1, a new cost of a proportional share of 0.33is generated. However, the network terminal corresponding to affinityID=“af0” has already been given to a subscriber, and the cost thereof isbeing born by service business entity ISP1. In this case, the differenceof the proportional share portion of service business entity ASP1 can bepaid from service business entity ASP1 to service business entity ISP1.

Support server 40 has a table for storing changes in the proportionalshares of network terminal costs as shown in FIG. 5. According to FIG.5, in a case that a network terminal affinity ID changes from “af0” to“af1” (affinity change of “af0 to af1”), the payment of a cost of aproportional share backrate of 1-0.67=0.33 is generated from servicebusiness entity ASP1 to-service business entity ISP1.

Furthermore, in a case that a service of service business entity ASP2 isadded for the network terminal of affinity ID “af1”, new affinityID=“af2” is set. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4C, the proportionalshares of network terminal costs between the respective service businessentities ISP1, ASP1, ASP2 is set at 0.5, 0.25, and 0.25, respectively.By so doing, as shown in the change table of FIG. 5, the change portionof the proportional shares of each service business entity,respectively, becomes

Service business entity ISP1: 0.67-0.5=0.17

Service business entity ASP1: 0.33-0.25=0.08

Service business entity ASP2: 0-0.25=−0.25 When a proportional sharethereof is a positive number, this indicates that there will be incomefrom another service business entity, and when same is a negativenumber, this indicates that a payment must be made to another servicebusiness entity.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of computations of theshared costs of each business entity. In FIG. 6, initially, for example,service business entity ISP1 distributes 10,000 units of a networkterminal of a unit cost of 30,000 yen. The affinity ID at this time isset at “af0”. And then, it is supposed that service business entity ISP1has finished paying 10,000×30,000 yen, which was the initial costthereof. For a certain period of time (for example, a quarter of ayear), the difference of shared cost of each service business entitywhen a change of affinity ID occurs will be illustrated. In the figure,a plus cost indicates an income, and a minus cost indicates a payment.

In FIG. 6, of the initial 10,000 units of network terminals of affinityID “af0”, 7,500 units become capable of using a service of servicebusiness entity ASP1, and the affinity ID thereof is changed to “af1”.Furthermore, of the 7,500 units of network terminals of affinity ID“af1”, 5,000 units become capable of using a service of service businessentity ASP2, and the affinity ID thereof is changed to “af2”.Furthermore, of the 5,000 units of network terminals of affinity ID“af2”, 2,500 units become capable of using a service of service businessentity ASP3, and the affinity ID thereof is changed to “af3”. And then,for each affinity change, the difference of the shared cost of eachservice business entity is computed with regard to the number of unitsof network terminals for which affinity changed. Furthermore, thecomputations shown in FIG. 6 can also be determined by computations fromthe affinity table of FIG. 4C without creating a change table like thatshown in FIG. 5.

Further, when a new affinity ID is set, the affinity ID in thesubscriber table shown in FIG. 4B is also changed to a new affinity ID.For example, when new affinity ID=“af1” is generated for affinityID=“af0”, subscriber affinity IDs of affinity ID=“af0” in the subscribertable are all changed to “af1”. Thus, when a new affinity ID is set,affinity IDs constituting the origins thereof in the subscriber tableare all changed to the new affinity ID.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of network terminal—support server processing in afirst aspect of the embodiment of the present invention. The networkterminal—support server communications protocol is, for example, an HTTP(Hypertext Transfer Protocol), which uses port=80h. In FIG. 7, thesupport server 40 overwrites the subscriber table (S10) when theaffinity ID of subscriber ID “1234567” is changed from “af0” to “af1”.Then, it is supposed that the subscriber used the network terminal forthe first time subsequent to the subscriber table being overwritten. Thenetwork terminal 10 is constituted so as to access the support server 40at startup, and by specifying the URL (universal resource locator) ofthe support server 40, an access request (post request) is sent to thesupport server 40 (S11). An access request comprises the networkterminal ID (MID), subscriber ID and affinity ID stored in the networkterminal 10.

Upon receiving an access request, the support server 40 references thesubscriber table shown in FIG. 4B, acquires an affinity ID correspondingto the received subscriber ID, and furthermore, then compares theaffinity ID (affinityid) acquired from the subscriber table with thereceived affinity ID (affinityid₁₃ C) (S12). When there is match in StepS13, the support server 40 sends as an access response (post response)an HTML file (data1) for displaying a service menu screen correspondingto affinity ID “af0”, together with the network terminal ID (MID),subscriber ID and affinity ID (here, “af0”) (S14).

Conversely, when there is no match in Step S13, the support server 40selects the affinity ID acquired from the subscriber table (here,“af1”), sends the affinity ID thereof, the network terminal ID and thesubscriber ID to the network terminal 10, and furthermore, sends as anaccess response (post response) an HTML file (data1) for displaying aservice menu screen corresponding to affinity ID “af1”, and anadditional plug-in program (data2) corresponding to affinity ID “af1”(S15).

In a case that an additional program is added, for example, by a bankservice business entity in accordance with the change to affinity ID“af1”, the additional program is a program for managing a bank account.Further, service menu screen data was sent from the support server to anetwork terminal here, but service menu screens corresponding to eachaffinity ID can also be stored in a network terminal.

Upon receipt thereof, the network terminal 10 performs the followingresponse processing (S16). That is, the network terminal 10 confirmsthat each network terminal ID and subscriber ID received is the IDstored internally, and furthermore, overwrites the stored affinity IDwith the received affinity ID. In accordance therewith, an affinity IDstored in the network terminal can be updated.

Furthermore, a service menu screen (initial screen) corresponding to anHTML file is displayed on the network terminal 10. Further, in a casethat a plug-in program or other additional program has been downloaded,this program is stored in a predetermined storing unit. In accordancetherewith, the network terminal operates as affinity ID “af1”thereafter.

FIG. 8 is an example of an initial screen being displayed on a networkterminal. As shown in FIG. 8, buttons for selecting a service businessentity, which is specified by an affinity ID, are displayed on theservice menu screen. FIG. 8 is a screen corresponding to affinity ID“af3” in FIG. 4C. Then, by a subscriber selecting the displayed buttonof a desired service business entity, the URL of a server of theselected service business entity is specified, and the network terminal10 connects to this server. The server of the service business entitysends a file for displaying a predetermined service provision screen inaccordance with a request from the network terminal 10, and the screencorresponding to this file is displayed on the network terminal 10.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the size of the button can be constitutedsuch that the button size differs in accordance with a service businessentity's proportional share of costs.

Thus, when a new affinity ID is set, by a network terminal 10 of asubscriber corresponding to this affinity ID connecting to the supportserver 40, the affinity ID of the network terminal 10 is also updated,and it becomes possible for the subscriber 10 to receive a new service.

The support server 40 manages the affinity ID change history of thenetwork terminal 10.

FIG. 9 is an example of an affinity ID change history table. In FIG. 9,when the affinity ID of a network terminal 10 is updated based on theconnection from the network terminal 10, the table stores the subscriberID, the pre- and post-update affinity IDs, and the update datecorresponding to the network terminal 10 thereof. And then, thesupport-server-40 can regularly (for example, every month or every year)create a document like that shown in FIG. 10 based on the change historytable of FIG. 9. The document is a statement of fluctuations in theshared amounts of network terminal costs of each service business entityduring a predetermined period. In FIG. 10, there is an example of adocument of service business entity VAM1 for a certain year, and thedifferences in line with changes of proportional shares is computedbased on the table of FIG. 5. Furthermore, in FIG. 10, amounts arecomputed using a network terminal unit cost of 30,000 yen. Further, theamount of money received is recorded in the document of service businessentity ISP1, but the amount of money paid out is recorded in thedocument of a service business entity paying the charge.

Further, as explained above, after an affinity ID is changed,adjustments to the proportional shares (or charges) of the servicebusiness entities are made in relation to network terminals connected tothe support server 40, but the support server 40 can also adjust theproportional shares (charges) of the service business entities all atonce for all network terminals for which the affinity ID has changed.

Thus, a support server 40 in an aspect of the embodiment of the presentinvention performs management tasks, such as customizing a networkterminal 10 and adjusting the proportional shares of network terminalcosts when a change occurs in the services provided to a networkterminal 10. Consequently, after a certain service business entity hasdistributed to subscribers network terminals dedicated to the service ofthe service business entity thereof, even in a case that a new servicebusiness entity wishes to commence a service using the network terminalsthereof, by the support server 40 undertaking in accordance with theabove-mentioned management tasks the troublesome procedures accompanyingthe participation of a new service business entity, adding a servicebusiness entity, which will utilize the network terminals, becomes easy.Further, due to the participation of a new service business entity, theproportional share of network terminal costs of each service businessentity is also reduced.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of processing between a network terminal andsupport server in a second aspect of the embodiment of the presentinvention. In the second aspect of the embodiment, an affinity ID storedin a network terminal 10 is changed using a storage medium capable ofbeing removed from a network terminal 10. The storage medium is, forexample, an IC card, memory card or the like. More specifically, in acase that a service provided to a network terminal has been added, thesupport server 40 issues a new affinity ID the same as explainedhereinabove. In the following example, a case that the affinity ID ischanged from “af0” to “af1” will be explained. And then, either theoperator of the support server 40, or the service business entityconstituting the affinity ID thereof gives out to a subscriber thestorage medium on which the affinity ID thereof is stored. The storagemedium is, for example, sent by mail.

In FIG. 11, the states of a subscriber table and an affinity table inthe support server 40 are shown in Step S20. In Step,S20, the affinityID corresponding to subscriber ID “1234567” is still “af0”. Further, aflag (“Card”)as to whether or not a change of affinity ID in the storagemedium (here, a smart card) will be permitted, has been added to theaffinity table.

A subscriber receiving the storage medium on which a new affinity ID isstored, in a state that the storage medium has been placed in his ownnetwork terminal, may connect the network terminal 10 to the supportserver 40.

By so doing, the network terminal 10 sends to the support server 40 anaccess request (post request) comprising a network terminal ID,subscriber ID, affinity ID and a card flag (Card_flag=yes) indicatingthe use of the storage medium (S21). Here, the affinity ID comprisingthe access request is not the affinity ID stored inside the networkterminal, but rather the affinity ID stored on the storage medium.Furthermore, as for the network terminal ID and subscriber ID, the onesstored inside the network terminal are used. Therefore, the networkterminal 10 checks whether or not a storage medium is placed in theinterface unit 14 at access request time, and in a case that a storagemedium is placed, reads out the information stored on the storage mediumthereof, and in a case that an affinity ID is read out, sends same. In acase that a storage medium is not placed, the affinity ID stored insidethe network terminal is sent as is customary.

Upon receiving an access request, the support server 40 references thesubscriber table shown in FIG. 4B, acquires the affinity IDcorresponding to the received subscriber ID, and furthermore, thencompares the affinity ID acquired from the table with the receivedaffinity ID (S22). Furthermore, the support server 40 confirms whetheror not use of the storage medium is permitted based on the “Card” flagof the affinity table. In the second aspect of the embodiment, thesubscriber table of FIG. 4B is not updated when a new affinity ID isissued. Consequently, in a case that an affinity ID stored on a storagemedium is received, the affinity IDs do not match. Conversely, in a casethat an affinity ID of inside a network terminal is received, theaffinity IDs do match. When there is a match in Step S23, the processingof FIG. 9 above is the same. That is, the support server 40 sends anHTML file for displaying a service menu screen corresponding to each IDand affinity ID “af0” (S26). And then, the service menu screencorresponding to “af0” is displayed on a network terminal 10. Further,in a case that use of a storage medium is not permitted in Step S23,response processing corresponding to affinity ID “afb” is performed thesame as in the above case that there was a match without changing theaffinity ID (S26).

In a case that use of a storage medium is permitted, and moreover,affinity IDs do not match, the support server 40 updates the affinity IDin the subscriber table corresponding to the subscriber thereof with thereceived new affinity ID (S25). Furthermore, the support server 40selects the received affinity ID (here, “af1”)the same as the firstaspect of the embodiment explained hereinabove, sends the affinity IDthereof, the network terminal ID and the subscriber ID to a networkterminal 10, and furthermore, sends as an access response (postresponse) an HTML file (data1) for displaying a service menu screencorresponding to affinity ID “af1”, and an additional plug-in program(data2) corresponding to affinity ID “af1” (S24). Then, upon receiptthereof, the network terminal 10 performs response processing the sameas Step S16 in the above-mentioned first aspect of the embodiment (S27).

In the above-mentioned second aspect of the embodiment, a case that adistributed storage medium is used was explained as an example ofchanging an affinity ID in accordance with the desire of a subscriber,but the present invention-is not limited thereto, and, for example, aservice menu screen corresponding to an original affinity ID can also beused.

FIG. 12 is an example of a service menu screen for displaying anaffinity ID change menu. FIG. 12 is, for example, a service menu screenof affinity ID “af1”, and furthermore, displays buttons for requesting achange to either affinity ID “af2” or affinity ID “af3”. By a subscriberclicking on a button thereof, a new access request (post request)comprising a new affinity ID is sent to the support server.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of processing between a network terminal and thesupport server in a third aspect of the embodiment of the presentinvention. A case that the third aspect of the embodiment uses anaffinity ID stored on a storage medium and temporarily changes anaffinity ID will be explained. In FIG. 13, the state of the subscribertable in the support server 40 is shown in Step S30. In Step S30, theaffinity ID corresponding to subscriber ID “1234567” is “af4”. Further,in the subscriber table, there has been added flag “temporary” as towhether or not the temporary change of affinity ID in accordance with astorage medium is permitted.

A subscriber (subscriber ID “1234567”) receiving a storage medium onwhich is stored a different affinity ID (here, “af3”), in a statewherein the storage medium has been placed in his own network terminal,is allowed to connect the network terminal 10 to the support server 40.

By so doing, the network terminal 10 sends to the support server 40 anaccess request (post request) comprising a network terminal ID,subscriber ID, affinity ID “af3” and a temporary change flag(temporary_flag=yes) signifying the temporary use of the affinity IDthereof (S31). Here, the affinity ID comprising the access request isnot the affinity ID stored inside the network terminal, but rather isaffinity ID “af3” stored on the storage medium.

Upon receiving an access request, the support server 40 references thesubscriber table shown in FIG. 4B, acquires the affinity IDcorresponding to the received subscriber ID, and furthermore, thencompares the received affinity ID with the affinity ID acquired from thetable. In this aspect of the embodiment, the two do not match. Then, thesupport server 40 confirms whether or not a temporary change of affinityID is permitted based on the temporary change flag (temporary) of thesubscriber table (S32). And then, in Step S33, in a case that atemporary change of affinity ID is permitted, the support server 40performs access response corresponding to the different affinity ID“af3” the same as Step S14 in the above-mentioned first aspect of theembodiment (S34), and in a case that a temporary change of affinity IDis not permitted, the support server 40 performs access responsecorresponding to the original affinity ID “af4” the same as Step S15 inthe first aspect of the embodiment (S35).

Then the network terminal 10 performs response processing for the accessresponses thereof the same as Step S16 in the above-mentioned firstaspect of the embodiment (S36). However, in this aspect of theembodiment, because the change of affinity ID is temporary, unlike StepS16, the affinity ID is not overwritten.

In the above-mentioned aspects of the embodiment, the adjustment of theproportional shares of the purchase costs of network terminals wasexplained as the costs related to network terminals, but the presentinvention is not limited thereto. For example, in a case that apredetermined fee is charged monthly as a service provision fee ornetwork terminal support fee to subscribers to whom network terminalswere distributed, the proportional share of each service business entitycan also be adjusted with regard to the service provision fee and soforth thereof.

The terminal device in the aspects of the embodiment of the presentinvention is not limited to a terminal device (network terminal) capableof connecting to a network; a terminal device other than a networkterminal is also applicable.

According to the above present invention, a terminal management deviceof the present invention manages the sharing by at the least onebusiness entity of costs related to distributed terminal devices. Forexample, in a case that a new business entity, which uses the terminaldevices and provides services after the terminal devices have beendistributed, the terminal management device computes and totals thedifferences of shared costs of each business entity, which will changein accordance with the addition thereof. Thus, by managing the changesof a plurality of business entities bearing the costs related toterminal devices, changes in the shares of the costs thereof can beadjusted easily even in a case that business entities using the terminaldevices thereof and providing services change after the terminal deviceshave been distributed to subscribers. Therefore, the present inventionfacilitates the participation of a new service business entity in theprovision of services using terminal devices subsequent to the terminaldevices being distributed.

The scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to theabove-mentioned aspects of the embodiment, but rather extends to theinventions disclosed in the claims and equivalents thereof.

1. A terminal management device for managing costs related to terminaldevices, said terminal management device comprising: a storing unit tostore management information for classifying each terminal device in acombination type of at least one business entity bearing the costsrelated to the terminal device; and a managing unit to manage sharing ofthe costs related to each terminal device based on said combinationtype.
 2. The terminal management device according to claim 1, whereinsaid management information includes a shared cost or a proportionalshare of the at least one business entity in each combination type, andwhen said combination type of a terminal device is changed, saidmanaging unit computes a difference between a cost related to theterminal device supported by the at least one business entity prior tochanging the combination type, and a cost supported by the at least onebusiness entity after changing the combination type.
 3. The terminalmanagement device according to claim 2, wherein, when said combinationtype is changed to a new combination type relative to one or moreterminal devices, the combination type of the one or more terminaldevices stored in said management information is updated to thecorresponding new combination type, and said managing unit computessharing of the costs related to the one or more terminal devices basedon said new combination type.
 4. The terminal management deviceaccording claim 1, wherein each terminal device is connectable to anetwork.
 5. The terminal management device according to claim 2, whereineach terminal device is connectable to a network, and said terminalmanagement device further comprises a communicating unit receiving via anetwork a network connection request from each terminal device, and,when said combination type is changed to a new combination type relativeto one or more terminal devices, the combination type of the one or moreterminal devices stored in said management information is updated to thecorresponding new combination type, and said managing unit computessharing of the costs related to the one or more terminal devices basedon said new combination type.
 6. The terminal management deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the costs related to each terminal deviceinclude purchasing costs of said terminal device.
 7. A terminal deviceconnectable to a network, said terminal device comprising: a storingunit storing a combination type of at least one business entity bearingcosts related to the terminal device; and a communicating unit sendingthe combination type stored in said storing unit with a networkconnection request to a predetermined server on the network.
 8. Theterminal device according to claim 7, further comprising: an overwritingunit which overwrites the combination type stored in said storing unitwith a received combination type when said communicating unit receivesthe received combination type from said server.
 9. The terminal deviceaccording to claim 7, further comprising: an overwriting unit whichcompares the combination type stored in said storing unit with areceived combination type when said communicating unit receives thereceived combination type from said server, and overwrites thecombination type stored in said storing unit with said receivedcombination type when the stored combination type and the receivedcombination type are different.
 10. The terminal device according toclaim 7, wherein, when a predetermined combination type is read from aremovable storage medium located in the terminal device, saidcommunicating unit sends the combination type read from said removablestorage medium instead of an combination type stored in said storingunit with a network connection request to a predetermined server on thenetwork.
 11. A management method for managing costs related to aterminal device, comprising: classifying each terminal device inaccordance with a combination type of at least one business entitybearing the costs related to said terminal device; and managing a shareof the costs related to each terminal device based on said combinationtype.
 12. A computer readable storage medium storing an executableprogram which makes a computer execute a method comprising: classifyingeach terminal device connected to a network in accordance with acombination type of at least one business entity bearing costs relatedto the terminal device; and managing the costs related to each terminaldevice shared by the at least one business entity based on saidcombination type.
 13. A computer readable storage medium storing: dataof a combination type of at least one business entity bearing costsrelated to each terminal device connected to a network, and a programwhich when executed on a terminal device sends said combination typewith a network connection request to a predetermined server on thenetwork.
 14. A terminal management method for managing cost of aterminal device usable to supply an additional service provided by abusiness entity, comprising: sharing the cost of the terminal devicebetween at least one business entity providing at least one existingservice, and the business entity providing the additional service, whenthe additional service is added.